In the post-WWII era, Australia has generally had a booming, resource-based economy, driven by everything diggable or drillable, but mostly coal and iron. As China has moved from the Maoist days of a Communist business model with 1.2B dirt farmers into its current Communist Party-controlled Infomercantilist model, the effects of the change on Australia have been dramatic.

Australia’s plans and politics were always driven by the big-money companies involved in resource extraction, but China’s dramatic rise in demand for Australia’s resources has accelerated payments in cash to this sector, while arguably slowing the country’s attempts to diversify – or to do anything the major resource firms don’t like.

In recent history, this has included: responding to global warming with a carbon payments scheme and windfall profits tax on resource firms to diversify the economy (not popular with resource firms: end of Labor government), repeal of same (payback for support: new Liberal administration), and an endless dance with China over resource pricing, deliverables, and ownership.